ਮਃ ੧ ॥
mehlaa 1.
First Mehl:
ਨਾਵਣ ਚਲੇ ਤੀਰਥੀ ਮਨਿ ਖੋਟੈ ਤਨਿ ਚੋਰ ॥
naavan chalay teerthee man khotai tan chor.
They go and bathe at sacred shrines of pilgrimage, but their minds are still evil, and their bodies are thieves.
ਇਕੁ ਭਾਉ ਲਥੀ ਨਾਤਿਆ ਦੁਇ ਭਾ ਚੜੀਅਸੁ ਹੋਰ ॥
ik bhaa-o lathee naati-aa du-ay bhaa charhee-as hor.
Some of their filth is washed off by these baths, but they only accumulate twice as much.
ਬਾਹਰਿ ਧੋਤੀ ਤੂਮੜੀ ਅੰਦਰਿ ਵਿਸੁ ਨਿਕੋਰ ॥
baahar Dhotee toomrhee andar vis nikor.
Like a gourd, they may be washed off on the outside, but on the inside, they are still filled with poison.
ਸਾਧ ਭਲੇ ਅਣਨਾਤਿਆ ਚੋਰ ਸਿ ਚੋਰਾ ਚੋਰ ॥੨॥
saaDh bhalay annaati-aa chor se choraa chor. ||2||
The holy man is blessed, even without such bathing, while a thief is a thief, no matter how much he bathes. ||2||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
They set off to bathe at holy places, yet the mind stays crooked and the body acts like a thief.
The bath washes a little dirt away, and twice as much piles back on.
Like a gourd scrubbed clean outside, they stay bitter inside, full of poison.
Holy people are good even without such bathing; a thief stays a thief, however much he bathes.
The cleaning that counts happens on the inside.
A shalok of the First Mehl about outer washing without inner change. baahar dhotee toomrhee, andar vis nikor = a gourd washed outside, still bitter within. Goodness lives in the heart, in every tradition, and no outward rite can stand in for it.
A Question to Sit With
What is a way you can clean up on the inside, not just the outside?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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